This handbook informs the reader about how much progress we, the human race, have made in enhancing the quality of life on this planet. Many skeptics focus on how the quality of life has deteriorated over the course of human history, particularly given World War II and its aftermath. This handbook provides a positive perspective on the history of well-being. Quality of life, as documented by scientists worldwide, has significantly improved. Nevertheless, one sees more improvements in well-being in some regions of the world than in others. Why? This handbook documents the progress of well-being in the various world regions as well as the differences in those regions. The broad questions that the handbook addresses include:

What does well-being mean?

How do different philosophical and religious traditions interpret the concept of well-being within their own context?

Has well-being remained the same over different historical epochs and for different regions and subregions of the world?

In which areas of human development have we been most successful in advancing individual and collective well-being? In which sectors has the attainment of well-being proven most difficult?

How does well-being differ within and between different populations groups that, for a variety of socially created reasons, have been the most disadvantaged (e.g., children, the aged, women, the poor, racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities)?

Richard J. Estes is Professor Emeritus of Social Work and Social Policy in the School of Social Policy & Practice of the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in international and comparative social welfare, social policy, and social development. He has been the recipient of many awards and prizes for his contributions to comparative social development. In addition to the present volume, his books include The Social Progress of Nations, 1984; Trends in World Social Development, 1988; Health Care and the Social Services,1984; Towards a Social Development Strategy for the Asia and Pacific Region (with Edward Van Roy), 1992; Social Development in Hong Kong: The Unfinished Agenda, 2005; Medical, Legal, and Social Science Aspects of Child Sexual Exploitation, 2007; Advancing Quality of Life in a Turbulent World, 2007; Social Progress in Islamic Societies: Social, Political, Economic, and Ideological Challenges (with Habib Tiliouine, Dordrecht NL: Springer), in preparation; and Human Well-Being: The Untold Global History (with M. Joseph Sirgy, Dordrecht HL: Springer), in preparation, 2015.M. Joseph Sirgy is a management psychologist (PhD, University of Massachusetts, 1979), Professor of Marketing, and Virginia Real Estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has published extensively in the areas of marketing, business ethics, and quality of life (QOL). He is the author/editor of many books related to quality-of-life and well-being research. In 1998, he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from ISQOLS. In 2003, ISQOLS honored him as the Distinguished QOL Researcher for research excellence and a record of lifetime achievement in QOL research. In 2012 he was awarded the EuroMed Management Research Award for outstanding achievements and groundbreaking contributions to well-being and quality-of-life research.